It Might Be A Good Thing.....

For those of you that may be waiting for news on our potential purchase of an acreage...Afraid it's been delayed. We received word from a representative of the family yesterday that the sellers have decided to put the acreage on the auction block. It sounds like the wait won't be long; they hope to have the sale completed by the end of April.

I'm deflated.....I've been on a hi for a few weeks now and just need some time to get back to reality. At least we got the painting done. Always work my best under pressure! Chuck says, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps we'll be able to purchase it at a lower price than our private bid. Who knows. I'm moving on to Spring House cleaning. My dreams of quilts - once again hanging from the clothesline will be put on hold.. If we're able to get the place by May 1st I can still plant a garden. I'm hopeful.

These past few nights have been wonderful for sleeping with the windows wide open. Nothing better than hunkering down under 2 or 3 warm quilts when the bedroom is 50 degrees. However, the pollen must be in the air because this morning I'm all plugged up with red, watery eyes and a sore nose from blowing.

Today I will be putting the binding on a new quilt I finished for the bedroom. It will look great with the new paint scheme. I'm determined to go thru closets and get rid of STUFF.... I'm a terrible pack rat. Perhaps the delay on the acreage is a blessing in disguise. It gives me more time to seriously get things together for a garage sale this Spring.

Easter is at Angie's Sunday. I need to take a dessert. Need to do some thinking as it is always a challenge to come up with something that looks good with her presentation. Not that I'm competing with her; after all she did learn to cook from me. I'm proud of my girls and what wonderful homemakers they are even though they have pretty full plates outside of the home.
We will have an Easter egg hunt, so I'll have plenty of pictures for that.

That's it for today. Time's awastin'

Hurry Up and Wait....

Isn't that always the way. Got all our bases covered, revised the bid letter at least 3 times, the appraiser scheduled and got our bid submitted on Tuesday noon. The appraiser came Wednesday noon everything's a go as soon as we hear back from the seller's. Our bid requested a response no later than 5pm today, but then we got a call asking for an extension until Monday because the bank needed more time to contact all family members. What can you do but take a deep breath.....

Next step, emptying out our bedroom, bathroom, and closet to get ready to paint. Finding a place for everything out of that closet will be a challenge. It's packed full because we've never gotten around to getting any dressers or chests to replace the ones we sold when we moved from DM. But, Chuck's painting the ceilings tomorrow so we need to stay focused. This is the only room we haven't done anything with yet. There are places in the closet that haven't been dusted in the 5 years since we moved here. You can't paint over the dust balls so it's time to start the cleaning....

We'll get the ceilings done this weekend and Amanda and Kelsey will be here on Monday and Tuesday to wash woodwork and get the walls painted. It's still too soon for me (my feet) to be spending any time on a ladder, so thank God I have these girls. They will bale me out. The plus is that I'll get to babysit Braylon. I told his mom to bring his stroller along and we'd take some walks. Sounds like it will be nice. I'll be taking pictures as I haven't seen him for over a month.

Speaking of Kelsey, she and Tyler were here yesterday. She's learning to embroider dish towels and brought one for me to put a binding on. Look at this; is this cute or what!!! She's doing a retro pattern right out of the 30's. They will be perfect with the Fiesta dishes she's been collecting for the last 5 or 6 years. This warms my heart...I learned to embroider dishtowels from my Aunt Marie and remember making pillowcases and dishtowels for my hope chest. This is such a great skill for girls to develop. At least I think so.


Better get going. That bedroom is not waiting. There's lots to get done before the UNI Panthers game tonight.

Fast Trip to Kansas City

My life seems to be in a perpetual spin zone! We canceled our trip to Florida because this acreage we've had our eye came up for sale and it's going to be sold on bid. There was no time to lose as we needed to meet with the bank, and the realtor, and schedule an appraisal, and work on an intelligent bid letter. We decided in lieu of our trip to Florida that we would make a quick run to Kansas City to see Jen & Wes and the girls. The girls and Jen were on Spring Break last week and we would have a chance to see Wes before he went to the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee.

So, after we met with the bank we headed to KC. 5 1/2 hour drive so we had some quality time to discuss our strategy. This is so nerve wracking.

Anyway, when we got there, Bailey and Olivia were just finishing their 'Kids Garage Sale'.

Here's Bailey (L) and her friend, Emily Lester.
Looks like they were in charge of ringing up the sales.

I still can't get use to how grownup Bailey looks with her hair straightened and new glasses.



Olivia (R) and her friend, Emily Cloud. They parted with lots of stuff and made about $80 which the girls get to keep and use for spending money on the summer trip to Mexico. Olivia had a friend over to spend the night on Friday and Bailey left to spend the night with a friend. Never a dull moment at the Thompson house.

We didn't do much while we were there, except Chuck looked at lawn tractors. If we get the acreage, he'll need something more than our walk behind. I think he's dreaming again of being a farmer.



Yesterday while we were surveying the yard
outside to see all that we needed to get done
before listing the house I realized that my
bulbs were coming up!!











So I immediately, went in the house, got my seeds and planted my lettuce, spinach and kale. Come on everyone, Spring is officially here!!!


Gotta go for today, lots to do. Just got the call from the appraiser, so I need to get some house cleaning done.

Today is Quiltling Day!!

Today is quilting day!! For me that means that every two weeks on Wednesday I get to spend the day with some of my favorite people. My sister, Mary and my cousins Sandy and Donna (who are sisters).

A little background....we grew up just down the road from each other. Our Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Don had 10 children. We had 4. Ours was a town of only about 1700 people and we lived across the river on the 'other side of the tracks'. It was pretty rural - and we only went across the river to go to Sunday School. The rest of the time we were free to roam the neighborhood from morning til night. Aunt Dorothy and our mother were sisters Aunt Dorothy was a stay-at-home mom and our mother worked or slept during the day, if she was on the night shift. So Aunt Dorothy was our second mom. We experienced quite a few firsts while growing up. Shared secrets, tattled on each other and I think shared our first cigarettes.....Sometimes it seemed like we were one big family.

Anyway, we always start out about 9:00 with coffee and a sweet treat.

Then, it's to the sewing machines to work on our projects. For the last month we've been working on sweatshirts. These will be jackets that we wear when we go out together. They are actually 'Club' sweatshirts. Each a different color with applique'd women on the back. It's been a hoot and each of us trying to be a little bit further 'out there' than the others.

The members of THE CLUB are: Mary on the left, Donna in the center, then Sandy at the bottom. (Still trying to figure out how to get these pictures where I want them.) Of course, me but I don't have to be in the picture since I'm taking it!


Here's a picture of my jacket. I still have to finish the buttonhole stitching around everything, but you get the idea.

Another session and we'll have them done. Then we'll probably plan a road trip to show them off.






We four have lived really pretty different lives and, at some times, far removed from our families. But now, in our retirement years, we are back together again, at least within driving distance. And we are having so much fun!!!!

Had to postpone our trip to Florida until maybe next month. At least I hope everything is more settled in another month.

Till Later....

LOOK AT THIS!!

I should be getting things ready for
tomorrow's quilt group, but I just
wanted to share this. Not very many
things relating to my early childhood
survived, but when my mom died I
ran across this paper doll that I
made - probably in kindergarten or
first grade. I can't for the life of me
figure out how it survived with so
little damage.




I don't really remember making it, but the interesting thing about it was on the back. I don't think my sister Mary was in school yet. And apparently I wanted her to share ownership of this paper doll. A copy of the back is shown with my name printed and then above I added 'and Marys'. We are 14 months apart. And we played with paper dolls a lot. I remember as little girls being very close. And now as adults, are are close again.

Anyway, I've saved if for quite a few years until I had some extra money to get framed. Wish I had thought to take the pictures before I had it framed. I couldn't get rid of the flash image.

JOURNAL OF WILLOWS AND EARLY BLOOMS WORKSHOP

Wednesday, March 10

Today I'm headed for Country Sampler Quilt Shop in Spring Green, WI. I will be part of their Willows and Early Blooms 4 day workshop. I'm really excited because I was here last fall for another gathering and had loads of fun. Jeanne Horton, shop owner, packs so much stuff into those 4 days, I know I will be coming home with my head swimming and trying to remember everything that happened. I left late morning and started out driving in fog. The fog never lifted and after I crossed the Mississippi River it got worse. Glad I was driving during daylight hours. However, it got pretty bad. I thought about stopping and taking a photo, but was afraid I might get hit by a car. That's how bad it was.



After arriving in Spring Green I went directly to the Hill Street Bed & Breakfast. I had never stayed in a B & B before, and I must say it was quite nice. I did not realize, however, until I checked in that there was no TV in the room. Oh dear; those of you who know me well know I can't fall asleep without a TV going.....I'm very anxious......

After unloading I drove over to the shop to check in and pay for my meal. I am so disappointed; I took what I thought was a great shot of the quilt shop, but when I tried to download it, I realized I had actually taken a video shot which will not download. Everyone is meeting at Jeanne's tonight for a 6:30 Meet and Greet and buffet lunch.


Jeanne has the most gorgeous house a mile out of
town. This is what was waiting for us; an absolutely beautiful presentation. The designers
that were teaching the classes were there and we
had a chance to get to know each a little. At 8:30
I headed back to the B&B and it's a good thing I
had GPS on my truck as I couldn't even see
the intersections until I was right on them, let
along seeing the street signs.

Back to my room for an hour of working on my
sampler. I did fall asleep fairly fast; I must have
been wore out from the tense driving today.

Thursday, March 11

Jeanne has an absolutely awesome School Room. It's a separate building next to her shop and has everything you need. Wish I had a sewing room like this. It has huge long cutting tables, walls decorated with quilts and tulips in the crocs.

This table in front was loaded with all the finished projects we were going to be working on.







We each got our own Easter Basket filled with what we would need for the day. Along with a generous helping of Easter Candy.


Stacey Nash Primitives was our instructor and our project was a primitive needle drum with velvet carrots on top. We had more fun with this project. It consists of dying a finished cross stitch piece with dye made from black walnuts. The needle drum is stuffed with sawdust, then dyed, then baked in the oven. You would swear the item would be ruined. It's black when it goes in the oven, but comes out with a slightly aged appearance. The carrots were made of velveteen, stuffed, then scraped with scissors to remove some of the nap.


The project looks like it could be a hundred years old. What do you think?

We broke for supper then came back and worked on a primitive covered paper mache box with a cross stitch picture inside.

Didn't break up until 9pm. It was a big day.

Of course, tonight I could not get to sleep. I stitched on my sampler alternately with reading until I finally drifted off at 2am.


Friday, March 12

Today we worked on a wool applique' bag. The class was taught by Linda of Chessie and Me (A cross stitch designer). Another day of laughing at ourselves and each other. We decided to age some of the wool for the flower petals the same as we had done with the needle drum. One of girls tried a shortcut of drying in the micro wave. However, she baked for too long and the wool ended up burned. We still don't know for sure, but many speculated that there could have been a fire in the microwave oven. We laughed all day about this and I threatened to publish pictures on my blog, but Judy was such a good sport, I'm thinking I won't do it.

We had dinner at Arthur's. The most unbelievable fish fry you could ever have. If you're ever in the vicinity, you have to go to Arthur's. Tonight I slept like a log. I was so tired, I couldn't even work on my sampler.

Saturday, March 13

Today we worked on cloth Easter eggs. They were assembled by hand and filled with sawdust. Then decorative stitches done on the seams, dyed with walnut dye and baked in the oven to make them look old. Most of us did not get these done because in the afternoon we learned how to make paper May baskets and cones. We will finish when we get home and I'll post a picture of them on my blog.

We were a small group but I left there feeling like I had 10 really close new friends. Posted below is a picture of the group. Those of you who visit my blog; I hope you enjoy. Thank you so much for all the memories and I hope we get to meet again in the future. Keep in touch.


Back Row L to R: Marlene, Stacey, Marian, Jean, Julie (hidden), Linda

Middle Row L to R: Vicki, Carolyn, Barb, Jeanne
Front Row: Connie Missing: Judy (she refused!)

And While I'm Bragging!!

This picture was taken last fall during football season. Olivia is in the front and Bailey is on the right . Bailey's friend, Peyton (I hope that's right!), happened to be there so, of course, we wanted to include her too. The girls are both in cheerleading and their mom, Jennifer, has coached Bailey's team since the beginning.

The girls live in Olathe, KS and we just don't get to see them enough!!

Of course, we have 7 other other grand children. They are all older. Pictures of the Florida group will be posted during our vacation. The others will show up soon, I'm sure.

CAN I DO IT? YES I CAN

I'm playing around with downloading pictures and have succeeded in showing off our youngest grandson Carson and our first great grandson, Braylon. This picture was taken when Braylon was about 5 weeks old. Carson told his dad, "Braylon has changed my life."









Here's the latest picture I have. Taken on Feb 15. Braylon has his own Facebook page. And I believe his mother is creating a Blog also.

Do you think he could be any cuter?










Well, looks like I've got this mastered. I'll have to think about what else I need to learn. Back to my sewing for now.

Something New For Me

Welcome to Marian's Blog. My blog is named for a business I had several years ago. I sold handmade quilted items under the company name Quilts On The Line. And the logo came from a long-ago memory I had of quilts drying on a clothesline on a breezy summer day.

My granddaughter, Kelsey is helping me get this going. There will be more pictures to come. I just wanted to get this out there.

For those of you who may not know me well, quilting is a huge part of my life. I work on piecing almost every day. In addition, I do a lot of counted cross stitch along with other crafts in more moderate amounts.

I retired from all work outside the home about 3 years ago. Since that time, I have enjoyed the company of a small quilting group consisting of my sister and my two cousins (who are sisters). Our mothers were sisters and we grew up together in a very small town. We were a family of 4 siblings and our cousins were part of a larger family of 10 siblings. We thought they were lucky to have so many brothers and sisters.

We sew and take road trips and go out to lunch every couple of weeks. Mostly, though, we have fun and this blog will include comments and pictures of the time we spend together.

This is something new for me and I'm doing it mostly for myself, my friends and my family. If you happen to stumble on this site I hope you enjoy what I have to say.